Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1887-12-01
The Bnyoux Of Louisiana.


The track ran through interminabls
swamps of giant expresses, magnolias,
and fg-trees. Their myriads of gray
trunks stood knee-high in water, open
ing in silent vistas on either side rs the
train passed through. Overhead huge
vicious coils of vines knotted these bare
columns together. IL was March, but
there was no coy. tender approach OF
spring here. Nature was savage
fierce, prolific. The very leaves which
in the North would have put forth
timid burst open here like clots OF
blood or an angry glare of white; even
the thickets OF saplings were hoary as
with age. Strange red and orange
birds flashed through the sombre re-
cesscs; now and then huge alligator
rose out Of the plane Of Shiny water.
stared ut the tram with dead eyes, and
plunged into it again.
They were on the border of that
coast country of Louisiana which fronts
the Mexican Gulf between Barataria
and Calcasieu bays; remarkable
region; unlike any other in North Am
erica in its peculiar features, and in
the sombrc splendor of its scenery.
The cause of its popularity is easily
explained.
The Mississippi in Louisiana makes
a huge bend westward in the shape Of
a bow or crescent, the upper point
being at Vicksburg, the lower at New
Orleans, the middle of the arc running
nearly parallel with the distant coast.
To the northwest of this arc a stretch
of pine-barrens, intersected by ranges
of low rolling hills, and broken by
numberless lakes and ponds, extends
into Texas. Through these the heavy
blood-colored flood of the Red River
urges its way. carrying with il all les
ser watercourses, and emptying itself
into the Mississippi near the highest
point of this bow Of detour. Its red
stain tinges the water and the banks OF
all the outlets of the great river there
after to the Gulf.
With this last great influx (holding
all the streams in the Texan llanos and
the mountains OF Mexico), the Mis-
sissippi now receives the whole drain
age of the continent between the
Rocky and Appalachian ranges. Every
spring and rainfall in that vast terri
tory helps to swell its tremendous tide
below Bayou Sara. Hence tho flood
of water there pushes its way directly
TO the sea with resistlcss power, not
only on its acknowledged highway,
the Mississippi, but through the whole
southern half OF Louisiana. ltliterally
enters in and occupies the land, fore
ing itself seaward, not only by more
than three hundred bayoux, many of
which are mighty rivers, but by slug
gish. scarce-moving streams, by per-
petual soaking, creeping oozing.
through all the earth, showing itself
on the surface in countless lakes,
ponds, and enormous dismal swamps,
and above IL in incessant heavy rolling
fogs and mists. You cannot dig three
feet down in all this district without
reaching water
We must remember, too, that this
spongy soil has been soaking in for
ages the fat washings Of all the rich
alluvial river-bottoms on half Of tho
continent. No such conditions enter
into the formation Of any other soil in
the world. If Louisiana can ever DO
drained and rescued from the sea and
the river, her fecundity under the hot
tropical suns would be unparalleled.
As it is, the parishes in this region
include the richest cotton, sugar, and
orange-bearing ground in tho States.
The forests grow to the size Of tho
woods before the flood; even the
ghastly impenetrablo swamps choke
with rank life. -Rebecca Harding
Darts, in Harpcr's Magazine.